Tap-nozzle



PPITH. ZZLE.

(No Model.)

' J. K. GRI

TAP N0 Patented Sept. 24, 1889.

M r I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB KOGH GRIFFITH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TAP-NOZZLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,519, datedSeptember 24, 1889.

Application filed March 1, 1889- Serial No. 801,665. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J ACOB KooH. GRIFFITH, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Tap-Nozzles, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention, while it is of use in the drawing off of many sorts offluids from containing-vessels, more particularly facilitates andrelates to the tapping of molten metal from stacks, crucibles,melting-pots, ladles, &c., and being especially adapted for use inconnection with steel-founders ladles, is hereinafter specificallyillustrated in that aspect.

Heretofore among smelters and metallurgists the ladles from which moltenmaterials are drawn off or tapped from below (as distinguished fromthose which pour their contents over their edges or lips) have beencustomarily equipped with a vent-nozzle and spile-plug at their lowerpart. These nozzles, consisting of a composition of graphite andfire-clay or other suitable refractory material, are commonly fitted andsecured to such vents as a bushing in the shape of short cylindricaltubes with stout walls and a concave or saucer-like upper end. Into thiscavity of the nozzles upper end, which generally lies about flush withthe inner surface of the ladle which it penetrates, the convex orcorrespondingly-fashioned male end of a stopper or spile plug, ofsimilar refractory material, on being thrust down through the charge byan operatinga'od finds a seat, and thereby they eifect a closure andcutoff, or else, as desired, by lifting the spile-plug with the rod theyallow the contents of the ladle, &c., to run out through the nozzle. Thespileplug rod, which is generally of iron, is usually protected from thecharge through which it passes by a luting or tube of fire-clay, &c.

Now this apparatus, while it has the merit of extreme simplicity, isfrequently inadequate to accomplish its end, for portions of the chargedribble off and escape by reason of the generally imperfect seating ofthese plugs upon the nozzle, if not by reason of absolute failure on thepart of the workmen to hit the nozzles breech with the spile-plu g,thetlatter being an accident, which is all the more likely to happen, asa considerable retraction of this plug is necessary to afford a gatewaywhose area shall correspond with the area of the nozzles tube-cavity,and thereby assure the issuance of a solid stream from it. Moreover thechilling of the molten 1nasssuch as steel (and especially the softersort of steel)-when it comes in a thin stream into contact with thecomparatively cool walls of the nozzle, tends to solidify and sticksmall particles or layers of it thereto, and these not only arrest otherlayers and interrupt the flow by damming up about the outlet, but theyoften prevent the fair seating of the spile-plug upon the nozzlessaucer-like breech end and impair its cut-olf action. Erosion of thenozzles body is another familiar source of leakage, for with materialsWhose melting-point is at a high degree of temperature any lack ofhomoge neity in the the spile-plugs seat is quickly sought out andattacked by the molten material as it rushes out over it.

Now the chief object of my present inven tion is to devise a tap-nozzlewhich will obviate such difficulties to a great extent if not entirely;also, to devise one which will not only be capable of more frequent usethan has heretofore been the case, but also of being used substantiallyas an ordinary spileplug and nozzle, should its improved valve seatbe'broken away, &c., thus afiording an additional margin of safety tothe charge which it may control.

Broadly speaking, I carry my invention into practice by developing theedges about the saucer-like breech of an ordinary nozzle upward,outward, and inward into a dome by an integral wall of such moderatethickness that its interior surface may be kept substantially at or nearthe melting-point by the molten charge, while the upper part of the domethus formed is pierced by an opening into which the spile-plug can seatas avalve. The preferred contours are an oblate spheroid for the dome,and for its opening a circular orifice whose sides preferably flare out-Ward to each. other at an angle of sixty degrees, while the spile-plugssides are, as it were, built out by an. integral extension into a conefrustum adapted to center, register,

and seat in the opening as a valve before its lower and substantiallyordinarily-formed lower end comes into contact with the now inclosedsaucer-like cavity of the nozzles breech aforesaid.

Reference now being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts throughout the several figures, they will be foundto illustrate my invention, as follows:

Figure 1, in side elevation and median cross-section, shows myinventionin association with a steel-founders ladle; Figs. 2 and 3, similarsectional side elevations, but on a larger scale, of my improvedspile-plug and nozzle, respectively; Fig. 4, a vertical side elevation,on an intermediate scale, of structures shown in Figs. 2 and 3 whenmutually seated.

In detail, Ais an ordinary steel-founders ladle, of which the shell B,the refractory linin g O,vent-orifices b c in said shell and lining,respectively, removable nozzle clamp plate D, (having an annular openingd and screwattaching spider-feet d d, &c.,) maneuverin glugs E, and postF, with its slot f, and binding-screw f for the spile-plug rod G areall, like said rod and its fire-clay guardsheath, consisting in thiscase of the spigot and socket-jointed cylindersg g, &c., old andwellunderstood devices. I prefer to unite the rod G to the spile-plugVby means of a screwengagement, as indicated in Fig. 1 and more clearlydisplayed in Fig. 2'. The central rodaperture 11 terminates blindly andhas a plane base '0 square to its axis, and a female screw, preferablyof sharp pitch and coarse square groove c and rounded wirethreadedland's 0 which afford all expeditious means of attaching it bothconcentrically and firmly to the rod when the latter is, as shown inFig. 1, provided with a corresponding square end and male screw 02', andit is also a more secure and direct method of attachment for thespile-plug and rod than that shown in Ostranders United States PatentNo. 117,918, of August 8, 1871, for, while the undercut central cavitiesof Ostranders spill-plugs do not penetrate them from end to end, thesecavities, as he invariably contrives them, being adapted to conform toconcentric T-headed rods, do not introduce either the screw or bayonetcatch cam principle. Indeed the liability of bursting the walls of thespile-plugs,by reason of their friable nature, has heretoforepractically prohibited contrivances embodying any wedging action betweenthe engaging parts, whereas my device, as.

above described, relying upon the reaction between the screwthreaded andflat terminal surfaces for binding the plugs to the rods ends, confinesgrouting to such merely as may be necessary for protecting the rod fromthe action of the molten charge, instead of also calling upon it, asOstranders device does, as agent in securing the rod from backing offfrom the plug when assembled for use, the use being safe in his caseonly after the grouting has set, instead of almost instan tly, as withmy sort of attachment. Otherwise, save for its additional Valvularsurface V between its ordinary spile-plug end V and its main cylindricalbody V the spile-plug may, even in my preferred form for it, be of theordinary style and material. Its size and proportion depend upon thenozzle, withwhich it is intended to operate conjointly. So, too, themain body R, with nozzle-neck a", annular shoulder r for clamp-plate Dto bear against, and the' tubular orifice T, (see Fig. 3,) may be saidto be old, or substantially the same as those portions in ordinarynozzle-bushings for vents; but the extension of the main body B into thedome-walls R surrounding the preferably-spheroidal recessed cavity T,which lies between the conical and outwardly-flaring valve-seat S at itscrown and the usual saucer-like breech-cavity, designated U, andcomprised between the dotted line 1 'y and the inner end t of thetube-cavity T aforesaid, are, on the other hand, new and salientfeatures of my device.

The operation of these parts is almost selfevident from their precedingdescription; but for the sake of clearness I will add that the bushingis fitted into the vent substantially as shown in Fig. 1, with its domeexposed somewhat to the charge, the influence of which heats through itswalls, and by keeping them hot prevents not only the incrusting of thevalve-seat itself, but also to great extent any fouling of the inclosedcavity T and second-- ary valve-seat U; also, that the length of thecone-frustum of the plug V, its angle, and the size of the orifice whichit plugs are prefera- 'bly, as shown in Fig. 4:- by dotted outline-,-

such that it is not necessary to retract said plug wholly from withoutthe dome wall R in order to afford an annular opening between it and itsadjoining seat S whose area shallafford a capacity for escape to themolten charge, which at least equals and may exceed that of theoutlettube T itself, for by thissimple means I contrive that the workmenneed never loose the guiding relation afforded to the plug by thevalve-seat itself in bringing thefplug back to a cut-off position; andthis, if preferred, a hanking-collar f provided with a binding-screw fmay more fully assure, as shown in Fig. 1, in connection with the rod Gand post F.

A striking advantage which flows from the use of my invention,especially when applied in its preferred form to metallurgical ladies,lies in the fact that, by reason of the comparative thinness of the wallof the dome in which the valve-seat is formed and the heating. andsoftening thereof by the molten metal as it rushes out over this seat inits escape, the scoring and erosion above alluded to in the seat can bequickly obliterated or neutralized by rubbing or pressing the spile-plugvalveupon it as part of the act of cutting off; but,

concluding with a general statement that my hereinbefore-describednozzle-bushing may be used conjointly with many other known forms ofvalve-plugs beside that above described as the preferred one Withoutdeparting from the purview of my present invention, I hereby declarethat,

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is=- 1. In a tap-nozzle, a tubularvent-bushing having at its breech or inner end a recessed enlargement ofits cavity surrounded by dome shaped walls and crowned by an orificeprovided with a valve-seat, substantially as and for the purposeshereinbefore described.

2. In a tapping nozzle, the combination of an inwardly and centrallytapering plug-valve and a tubular vent-bushing having at its breech orinner end a recessed enlargement of its cavity surrounded by d0meshapedwalls and crowned by an orifice provided with a flaring seat for saidvalve, said valve and orifice being so proportioned that when the valveis only partially lifted out of the orifice they may afford a gatehaving an area of escape at least as great in capacity as the deliveringcapacity of said bushings nozzle, substantially as and for the purposeshereinbefore described.

3. In atapping-nozzle, the combination of a tubular vent-bushing havingat its breech or inner part two valve=seats separated by a dome-wallsurrounding an enlarged cavity, the Whole formed integral, and aspile-plug valve having a surface adapted to normally register and fitin the former of said seats, but on the dissolution of the wall of saiddome to register and seat in the second thereof, substantially as andfor the purposes hereinbefore described.

JACOB KOCH GRTFFITH'.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. WEIss, J ABEZ GATES.

